Menu

general faith

Do any of you live in Canada? Ontario? the GTA? If you do, there is an event happening next weekend that you won’t want to miss! If you follow other bloggers in the US, so many of them attend Catholic conferences, and the posts about them, and pictures on twitter and Instagram always warm my heart and make me ache to attend with them. Well, there is one right here in Toronto, and it is a wonderful day!

I have attended in the past, and it is just so inspiring being in a room filled the brim with other Catholic women who love their faith as much as you do. The stories, the laughs, it is such an incredible day, and if you live close by, I would hate for you to miss it. This years’ line up of speakers is just remarkable, Dorothy Pilarski the organizer keeps drawing in better speakers each year! Check out the poster below, and I hope you consider attending with me.

For more information on the conference as well as great articles (I’ve written a few!) stop by the Dynamic Women of Faith website.

When this movie started I may have cringed a little. I’m not the biggest fan of old movies, mostly because I feel like people only like them because they think it makes them cool. But if it’s a good movie, then is really doesn’t matter when it was made, or if it is black and white! And this one was so good, so I didn’t even mind it was black and white!

Second on our Lenten movie journey: Lillies of the Field

A very young Sidney Poitier plays Homer Smith, a handy man traveling through the Arizona desert, when his car over heats. He finds a place to get some water, but doesn’t realize God has a bigger plan for him than just a quick pit stop. The farm he finds, is home to a small group of German nuns, who speak very broken English. They think he has been sent by God, and sort of trick Schmidt, as they call him, into staying and doing a few repairs, and eventually building them a chapel.
This movie is categorized as a drama, but my husband and I both agree it is much more a comedy. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues as the young free living Baptist reluctantly helps the very poor German nuns. From him teaching them English and a Southern hymn, to them teaching him that God often has greater plans for us. He arrives a very selfish young man, but learns to think of others, to trust in God, and to have faith in the community. God will provide, if it is his will to do so, and the nuns teach him that very important lesson.

It is very funny, and very heart warming!

Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Male Actor for his role in this movie! The movie is based on a book by the same name, and there is also a squeal to the film, Christmas Lillies of the Field, though Sidney Poitier doesn’t play Homer, and since he is so good in this, I’m not sure I would enjoy it as much. The chemistry between him and the nuns really makes the film.

This little blog has been horribly neglected over the past year. I apologize for being so absent! But with the birth of our third baby, other writing opportunities, a small part-time job, a local tv appearance, and life in general being busy, something had to give! I just recently starting posting somewhat regular at my other blog, and my husband has encouraged me to give this one a little more attention now. So enough with the excuses, and let’s get right into it!

Lent 2015!

Giving up, taking up, what have you decided?! We do the usual giving up of “treats” (junk food, take out, baked goods etc) but also like to give up some thing a little more challenging and replace it with something better for our soul. This year my husband is giving up video games, and I am giving up my current guilty pleasure Gossip Girl. First lets say that I am horribly embarrassed to even admit on here that I have been binge watching it on Netflix for a while now. I am 31 years old, a mother of 3, and I am watching a show that is meant for high school girls. And frankly just the name of it is so sinful! I don’t gossip, yet here I am crazy for a tv show that is all about gossiping, and ruining he lives of the ones you love with gossip!

So, in our free time, usually in the evenings once the kids are asleep, when we would normally do these activities, we are going to watch Catholic movies. And not just historical depictions, but Hollywood ones that show Catholics in a positive light.

My husband is currently making a spread sheet with them all! Ones we own, ones we will get from the library, and ones we can find on Netflix!

So where does this blog fit in? What do you readers have to do with all of this? Well, I am hoping to share a little review and write-up about them all. Share our thoughts on how we feel the Catholics were portrayed, how historically accurate it was, and just if it was a good film. I hope this idea interests you, and that you will stick around for it! I would love to hear what you are doing this Lenten season! In addition to this, I am also hoping to get back into morning prayers, especially as a family. Mornings always seem so hectic and stressful, I am hoping if I can get my children to slow down even for a moment, and we can all pray together before leaving the house, the day will be off to a better start! It seems to settle everyone down at the end of the day, so why not start the day calmly as well!

Life has been busy, but I promise I have posts about Apps for Catholics and a write up about the Dynamic Women of Faith conference…but for now, I just have a little story to share.

Today while out running errands with my 2.5 year old daughter, we were nearing the end of our journey, and about to head back to my son’s school to pick him up. As I buckled her up in her car seat, she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes; “Please let there be no dog poop at the school yard. Amen.” As she opened her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed she was praying for no more dog poop at the school, just like how she prayer for her lost soother to be found a few months ago.

I must also say when she says dog poop, she really means mud (she calls all mud dog poop), and she wanted the mud to be gone so she could play on the hill in the school yard with the big kids.

I just love that she prayed for this, instead of just saying something like “I hope the mud is all gone”. Praying at bedtime sure is paying off!

…so how is it going? Have you forgotten what you gave up and did it/ate it by mistake yet? I’ve seen some tweets and posts about messing up after only a few days, and if that’s you, it’s ok! Don’t beat yourself up if you did, it’s not a total fail, just take a step back, pray, and start again fresh tomorrow!

I like to replace what I’m giving up with something. This year I have given up raising my voice/yelling at my kids. It’s forcing me to stay calm, be more patient, and not just jump to conclusions and yell as my first instinct. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to just stop doing something like that (did I mention how tired and emotional I am from being pregnant, and how much my kids love to whine and fight over just about everything?), every time I yell I have to say a Hail Mary. That forced me to calm right down, and remove myself from whatever the situation was that caused me to raise my voice. It’s been working like a charm! Day one I said 3 Hail Mary’s, and since then I have only had to say one or two here and there! My husband even complimented me last night how great I was doing, and how nice it was to not have me loosing my cool so much. It’s kind of embarrassing…but I know you won’t judge me right? And I would much rather focus on the great side of this; me being a more patient mother who is also a much better listener!

The other thing that we give up each and every Lent are the sweets and treats. And since Sunday’s don’t count, my husband stopped by Tim Horton’s on Sunday and picked up some Timbits for us all. They were delicious, especially after a week of no sweets! We also had brownies and ice cream for dessert that night…I was very tempted to like my plate, but I restrained myself. My son has also been really great with this one. I thought for sure he would be asking for a treat all the time, but he had no problem with the treats in the house being put away in our cold storage until Easter! He was also keeping his little sister in line at the grocery store today, announcing “no treats during Lent!” anytime her eyes strayed to a yummy chocolate snack.

I hope you aren’t stressing too much if you have fallen off your Lenten path. There is still plenty of time to get back to it and have a great turnout!

Have you given Lent any thought yet? My husband and I have been throwing ideas around for a couple days now, I just can’t decided what to give up/take up for those 40 days. The standard one in our house are “treats”; candies, chocolates, chips, pop, takeout…all those yummy extras you don’t really need, and shouldn’t be eating regularly anyways. My husband and I also give up one other thing that is more specific, and usually take up something as well, here are a few ideas that we have done in the past, in case you need some ideas:

Give up:

– video games

– TV

– social media

– caffeine (my husband did this when I was pregnant with our son, sort of as a personal challenge for himself and supporting me in my caffeine free 9 months)

– shopping (not for necessities, but new clothes, home decor stuff, items you don’t *need*)

– swearing

– yelling (this might be topping my list this year. I gave up swearing one year and it finally broke that bad habit for good…perhaps this Lent will make me a better mother who doesn’t yell anymore)

Take up:

– the Bible (ok, maybe not all of it, but a few pages a day would be great!)

– other Catholic books

– volunteer

– going to Mass an extra day each week

Of course we will also be attending Mass on Ash Wednesday, abstaining from meat on all Fridays (which we do all year round anyways), and my husband will be fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (I’m pregnant, so I don’t have to do that one this year). Confession is also a must for us during Lent, our Parish usually hosts a large event with priests from other parishes, making it easy and accessible for everyone. And maybe I will even cover our crosses with purple fabric this year as well.

I would love to hear about your family’s traditions surrounding Lent. It seems so many people have family traditions for Advent and Christmas, but not as many for Lent and Easter. We go big when it comes to Easter, just as we do for Christmas. Presents, egg hunts, brunch at our house with my family, Mass, and dinner with my in-laws. So I like to make Lent just as significant as Advent. My son has been asking more questions this year, and we are more than happy to talk to him about it all, so I feel like some activities for the kids this year will be a must! Perhaps making the rosary a weekly or even daily thing will happen, as my son is a little obsessed with it right now (couldn’t have a better interest!), maybe a count down of some sort as well, just as we do for Advent. Oh I see lots of pins happening on Pinterest this week!

Have you ever had a moment when you felt something pulling at you. You are in the middle of something, but deep down inside you feel the need, the calling, to stop and pray. Never ignore that!

Today wasn’t my best parenting day. More yelling and arguing than I would have liked. Fights over having soothers (she’s two, and still hooked on it, but house rule is it’s only for sleeping!), where to sit at the table for lunch, eating lunch, and of course arguments over toys. Most of these instances were fairly typical in our house, and I don’t usually let them get under my skin, but today they did.

After I got the kids settled down for their naps, I sat and ate about 7 cookies. Chocolate covered digestive cookies are a weakness of mine. Sadly I didn’t feel any better afterwards. I turned the tv on hoping to just “veg out” and forget about my bad mood, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. Every channel I flipped to had a story of someone who was going through something tragic. Something actually worth being upset about. Me, I was grouchy because my daughter didn’t want to sit in her seat at lunch…I stopped what I was doing that very second to pray.

I gave thanks for the blessed life that I have.

I asked for forgiveness for the words I spoke in anger to my children.

I prayed for the courage and grace to be the mother that I know I can be, and that I know He wants me to be.

When I was finished, of course I felt a million times better. But it also hit me at that moment; I couldn’t remember the last time I stopped to pray. I pray with my kids before bed, and before each meal, but I hadn’t been praying on my own, either before I went to bed or randomly throughout the day. Was this the true source of my grumpiness? Most likely. I have been so tired and drained from this pregnancy, and going to bed early most nights, that I guess I just stopped…I fell out of it way to easily, but thankfully, it’s even easier to start back up again.